Giveaway Winner!

I'm a day late (sorry, Sew, Mama, Sew!), but there's no way I'd forget to pick a winner for my giveaway. My giveaway post had 141 comments that were not by me, so I picked a random number between 1 and 141:

Comment #58 turned out to be this one (I counted three times to be sure; there has to be an easier way!):

Thank you to Amy and everyone else who took the time to comment on my post. You had such kind things to say and it was fun seeing what flowers everyone looks forward to seeing each year. Some of you admitted to not caring for flowers, which is totally fine. I didn't hold it against anyone and I'm sure the random number generator didn't either ;)

Sorry again for the lateness of my post, but we were out of town this weekend and stayed a day longer than I thought we would. Making this post on my phone seemed like a feat beyond the limits of my patience, so I waited until we got back. I was amazed to see how much some of my plants grew while we were away; it seems like some grew at least six inches. I can't wait to see how much they grow the next time we get a good, long rain (no idea when that's happening).

Thank you *again* to everyone who took the time to visit and post; I hope those of you who didn't win had better luck elsewhere! I entered a bunch of giveaways and it doesn't look like I was lucky this time around either, but it was still fun to visit and to feel the thrill of maybe possibly winning something cool. Now I face the grind of building inventory to sell at my very first craft fair June 8 and 9. Come see me in Albion, NY at the first annual Pullman Memorial Alternative Craft Fair! But don't talk to me before then because I will be flipping my lid the entire next week and a half ;)

Flower Friday

**Before I get on with the flowers, I want to remind everyone that I am doing a giveaway this week, and it ends today at 8pm EDT. You can find that post here.**

It's Flower Friday on a Friday: the most elusive of days! There are so many things blooming or about to bloom around my house and I did not want those flowers to pass by without taking pictures. So here we go:

Delphinium are tall, staked and ready to roll 

Lavender is ready to go, too. We have about 20 plants and they smell awesome. 

These are beautiful little hot pink dianthus flowers 

Dianthus from afar. This stuff grows like crazy!

This is one of only two clematis blooms. I don't know what I've done to offend it. 

 Blackberry blossoms! Can't wait to eat those berries.

 A columbine flower. I have five plants blooming right now; they are so delicate and intricate.

 A chive flower. I have no idea what to do with a chive plant.

A few other plants are getting ready to flower soon, too, like one of my peony bushes, a coreopsis and some yarrow. And when I say some yarrow, I mean SO MUCH YARROW. I started with a shovelful I got from my mother-in-law's friend two years ago and now that I've already split that bunch into several pieces and seen each little bit spread like a weed I see why she wanted to give some away. This stuff is going to be a challenge.

I am feeling a little overwhelmed right now because I have at least a yard and a half of dirt sitting in my driveway waiting for me to dig it into some new perennial beds *and* I signed myself up for a craft fair June 8 and 9 despite the fact that I do not have a huge inventory of things to sell. I don't know how I am going to find the time to embroider, sew, and dig all the things that need embroidering, sewing, and digging in the next few weeks. I should probably start by backing away from the computer, so here I go. I will be back on Sunday to reveal the winner of my giveaway. Good luck to everyone and have a great weekend!

Giveaway Day!

Giveaway Day/Week at Sew, Mama, Sew! is here! And it's here, too! In case you didn't know, Sew, Mama, Sew! is a super cool blog/online fabric store that is a fabulous resource for anyone who is learning how to sew or wants to expand their sewing skills. I've learned so many things from their tutorials, which are much easier to follow than a regular sewing pattern because they include lots of pictures to help you figure out what you're doing.

That said, if you're here looking at my giveaway, then you probably know how awesome Sew, Mama, Sew! is and you probably don't know anything about me and my own blog. So welcome! My name is Nicole and I like to sew, do hand embroidery, and garden. I live in Buffalo, NY, and I have two kids, two cats, a husband, and an Etsy shop where I sell my hand embroidered accessories.

On to the giveaway! I'm offering up any one of the coin purses in my shop. You can find them here, but here is an example of one:

To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment on this post telling me what flowers you most look forward to seeing in the spring/summer (I am looking forward to seeing my big white puffy hydrangea bloom). Also, please leave your email address so I can contact you if you win.

The giveaway will be open until May 25, 8pm EDT, at which time I will close comments on this post. I will pick a random winner using random.org and publish the results by May 27. International entries are welcome.

Good luck! I look forward to hearing from you :) For more giveaway fun, head back over to Sew, Mama, Sew! and enter your heart out!